An international peer-review mission within the framework of the Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation (“ARTEMIS”) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) took place in Rome from 1 to 10 October 2023.
The mission, requested by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) and conducted by a team of six experts from Canada, USA, UK, Slovenia, Lithuania and France, as well as three IAEA staff members and a representative of the European Commission in an observer capacity, had the purpose of verifying the implemation status of the Italian National Programme for the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, and of the related national regulatory framework. Besides representatives of MASE, experts from the Italian competent regulatory authority, the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN) actively participated in the mission, as well as representatives of SOGIN (the Italian state owned company responsible for the decommissioning of Italian nuclear plants and the management of radioactive waste), of ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development) and of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Ispra.
The mission assessed all the major issues connected with radioactive waste and spent fuel management in Italy, recognizing the Italian Government’s commitment to address the challenges arising from these issues and ackonwledging as a good practice Italy’s comprehensive training and development programmes for nuclear professionals.
The ARTEMIS team also identified areas for improvement and provided a series of recommendations and suggestions, mainly focusing on the necessity of speeding up the process for the approval of the 2023 National Programme, that includes geological disposal as a final destination for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
Click here to read the IAEA’s press release on the mission.
